Store system, reading apparatus, and sales registration apparatus

ABSTRACT

A store system includes a reading unit that includes an image acquiring unit and an image output unit, and a sales registration apparatus that includes a similar image detection unit and a sales registration unit. The image acquiring unit acquires an image that is captured by an image capturing unit. The image output unit outputs the acquired image. The similar image detection unit detects an image of a product that is similar to at least a portion of the output image by referencing product management information in which information relating to sales registration of a product and an image of the product are associated for each product. The sales registration unit registers sales of a product based on information relating to the sales registration associated with the image of the detected product.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromJapanese patent application number 2010-196204, filed on Sep. 1, 2010,the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

Embodiments described herein relate generally to a store system, areading apparatus, and a sales registration apparatus.

BACKGROUND

Conventionally, in stores such as supermarkets, a product code readingapparatus that image captures a code symbol such as a barcode or atwo-dimensional code (for example, a QR code (registered trademark))that is attached to a product by a digital camera such as a CCD imagesensor and which reads a product code by detecting and decoding a codesymbol from the captured image is used. A store clerk registers aproduct that a customer purchases by taking out a product that is keptin a shopping basket that the customer brings over to a counter andholding the product over the digital camera of the product code readingapparatus.

However, with the product registration of the related art describedabove, since a code symbol that is attached on the product is imagecaptured, there is need for the store clerk to identify a location wherethe code symbol is attached when handling the product and to turn thecode symbol toward the digital camera. In particular, since the locationwhere the code symbol is attached is different for each product, thereare cases when the store clerk takes time in identifying the locationwhere the code symbol is attached.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective diagram of a checkout system.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a hardware configuration of a POSterminal and a product reading apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram which exemplifies a data configuration ofa PLU file.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a functional configuration of aCPU.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of one example of an action of a checkoutsystem according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates a conceptual diagram of an example of a readingregion in a reading window.

FIG. 7 illustrates a conceptual diagram of one example of registrationdata that is registered on the PLU file.

FIG. 8 illustrates a conceptual diagram of a display example of adisplay device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to solve the problems described above, an embodiment is a storesystem that includes a reading apparatus that includes an imageacquiring unit and an image output unit, and a sales registrationapparatus that includes a similar image detection unit and a salesregistration unit. The image acquiring unit acquires an image that iscaptured by an image capturing unit. The image output unit outputs theacquired image. The similar image detection unit detects an image of aproduct that is similar to at least a portion of the output image byreferencing product management information in which information relatingto sales registration of a product and an image of the product areassociated for each product. The sales registration unit registers salesof a product based on information relating to the sales registrationassociated with the image of the detected product.

In addition, another embodiment is a reading apparatus that includes animage acquiring unit, a product detection unit, and an image outputunit. The image acquiring unit acquires an image that is captured by animage capturing unit. The product detection unit detects a product thatis included in the acquired image. The image output unit outputs theacquired image when a product is detected.

Furthermore, still another embodiment is a sales registration apparatusthat includes a similar image detection unit and a sales registrationunit. The similar image detection unit detects an image of a productthat is similar to at least a portion of a captured image of a productfor which sales is to be registered by referencing product managementinformation in which information relating to sales registration of aproduct and an image of the product are associated for each product. Thesales registration unit registers sales of a product based oninformation relating to the sales registration associated with the imageof the detected product.

The store system, the reading apparatus, and the sales registrationapparatus according to the embodiments will be described below withreference to the drawings, with a checkout system as an example. Thecheckout system has a configuration that includes a POS terminal as thesales registration apparatus that performs registration and clearing ofa product for a single transaction, and a code reading apparatus thatreads a product code and the like that is attached to the product, andis one example of the store system. The embodiment is an applicationexample of a checkout system that is installed in stores such asrestaurants and supermarkets.

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective diagram of a checkout system 1. Asillustrated in FIG. 1, the checkout system 1 includes a POS terminal 11that performs registration and clearing of a product for a singletransaction. The POS terminal 11 is placed on an upper surface of adrawer 21 over a checkout stand 51. The drawer 21 receives control of areleasing action by the POS terminal 11. A keyboard 22 that is operatedby being pressed down by an operator (store clerk) is arranged on anupper surface of the POS terminal 11. A display device 23 that displaysinformation to the operator is provided further back from the keyboard22 as seen by the operator that operates the keyboard 22. The displaydevice 23 displays information on a display surface 23 a thereof. Atouch panel 26 is laminated on the display surface 23 a. A customerdisplay device 24 is provided upright to be rotatable further back fromthe display device 23. The customer display device 24 displaysinformation on a display surface 24 a thereof. Here, although thecustomer display device 24 illustrated in FIG. 1 has the display surface24 a facing the front side of FIG. 1, by rotating the customer displaydevice 24 so that the display surface 24 a faces the back side of FIG.1, the customer display device 24 displays information facing acustomer.

An oblong counter stand 151 is arranged so as to form an L shape withthe checkout stand 51 on which the POS terminal 11 is placed. Aload-bearing surface 152 is formed on an upper surface of the counterstand 151. A shopping basket 153 that holds products A is placed on theload-bearing surface 152. The shopping basket 153 can be thought ofseparately as a first shopping basket 153 a that is brought by thecustomer and a second shopping basket 153 b that is positioned at aposition that interposes a product reading apparatus 101 with the firstshopping basket 153 a.

The product reading apparatus 101 that is connected to the POS terminal11 to be able to freely transmit and receive data is installed on theload-bearing surface 152 of the counter stand 151. The product readingapparatus 101 includes a flat rectangular housing 102. A reading window103 is arranged on a front surface of the housing 102. A displaying andoperating unit 104 is affixed to an upper portion of the housing 102. Adisplay device 106 on a front surface of which a touch panel 105 islaminated is provided on the displaying and operating unit 104. Akeyboard 107 is arranged next to the display device 106 on the right. Acard reading slit 108 of a card reader (not shown) is provided next tothe keyboard 107 to the right. A customer display device 109 that is adisplay device provided to face the customer for displaying informationto the customer is installed to the back left side of a back surface ofthe displaying and operating unit 104 as seen by the operator. Acustomer touch panel 109 a is laminated on a display surface of thecustomer display device 109.

The first shopping basket 153 a that is brought by the customer containsthe products A for one transaction. The products A are moved to thesecond shopping basket 153 b by a hand of the operator. The products Aare pointed to the reading window 103 of the product reading apparatus101 by such a movement process. At this time, an image capturing unit164 (refer to FIG. 2) that is arranged to the back side of the readingwindow 103 image captures the products A. In the product readingapparatus 101, when it is detected that images captured by the imagecapturing unit 164 include the products A, the captured images areoutput to the POS terminal 11. In the POS terminal 11, images of theproducts A that are similar to at least a portion of regions of theoutput images are detected by referencing a PLU file F1 (details will bedescribed later) in which information relating to sales registration ofthe products A and the images of the products A are associated for eachof the products A. Next, in the POS terminal 11, sales of the products Aare registered based on information relating to the sales registrationsrelated to the detected images of the products A.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a hardware configuration of thePOS terminal 11 and the product reading apparatus 101. The POS terminal11 is provided with a microcomputer 60 as an information processing unitthat executes information processing. The microcomputer 60 is configuredby a ROM 62 (Read Only Memory) and a RAM 63 (Random Access Memory)connected by a bus to a CPU 61 (Central Processing Unit) that executesvarious types of calculation processes and controls each unit.

The drawer 21, the keyboard 22, the display device 23, the touch panel26, and the customer display device 24 described above are all connectedvia various types of input and output circuits (none of which are shown)in the CPU 61 of the POS terminal 11. Such parts receive control fromthe CPU 61.

The keyboard 22 includes a numeric keypad 22 d in which numbers such as“1”, “2”, “3” . . . and an operator for multiplying that is “×” aredisplayed on an upper surface, a subtotal key 22 e, and a total key 22f. The keyboard 22 outputs operation inputs of the operator by thenumeric keypad 22 d, the subtotal key 22 e, and the total key 22 f tothe CPU 61. The keyboard 22 is an operating unit configured to receivean operation from the operator.

An HDD 64 (Hard Disk Drive) 64 is connected to the CPU 61 of the POSterminal 11. Programs and various types of files are stored on the HDD64. The programs and various types of files that are stored on the HDD64 have the entirety or a portion thereof copied to the RAM 63 when thePOS terminal 11 is started and are sequentially executed by the CPU 61.A program PR for product marketing data processing is one example of theprogram that is stored on the HDD 64. The PLU file F1 that istransmitted from a store computer SC and stored in advance is oneexample of the file that is stored on the HDD 64.

The PLU file F1 is a file in which information relating to the sales ofthe products A and images of the Products A are associated for each ofthe products A displayed and marketed in stores. FIG. 3 is a conceptualdiagram that exemplifies a data configuration of the PLU file F1. Asillustrated in FIG. 3, the PLU file F1 stores information relating to aproduct such as a product category to which each of products A belongs,a product name, and a unit price, and a product image in which theproduct is image captured for each product ID that is assigned uniquelyto the products A. When the product A that is to have a salesregistration performed is read by the product reading apparatus 101, thePOS terminal 11 specifies the product A that is to have the salesregistration performed by referencing the PLU file F1 and detecting asimilar product image, and performs the sales registration by recordinginformation relating to the sales registration such as the product ID,the product category, the product name, and the unit price of thespecified product A on a sales master file (not shown).

Returning to FIG. 2, a communication interface 25 for executing datacommunication with the store computer SC is connected to the CPU 61 ofthe POS terminal 11 via input and output circuits (not shown). The storecomputer SC is installed in a backyard or the like of a store. The PLUfile F1 that is transmitted to the POS terminal 11 is stored in an HDD(not shown) of the store computer SC.

A connection interface 65 that makes data transceiving with the productreading apparatus 101 possible is connected to the CPU 61 of the POSterminal 11. Therefore, the connection interface 65 is connected to theproduct reading apparatus 101. Further, a printer 66 that performsprinting on a receipt or the like is connected to the CPU 61 of the POSterminal 11. The POS terminal 11 prints a transaction content (clearedamount or points awarded) or like of one transaction on the receiptunder the control of the CPU 61.

The product reading apparatus 101 also includes a microcomputer 160. Themicrocomputer 160 is configured by a ROM 162 and a RAM 163 beingconnected by a bus to a CPU 161. A program that is executed by the CPU161 is stored in the ROM 162. The image capturing unit 164 and a soundoutput unit 165 are connected to the CPU 161 via various types of inputand output circuits (none of which are shown). Actions of the imagecapturing unit 164 and the sound output unit 165 are controlled by theCPU 161. The displaying and operating unit 104 is connected to the POSterminal 11 via a connection interface 176. Actions of the displayingand operating unit 104 are controlled by the CPU 61 of the POS terminal11.

The image capturing unit 164 is a CCD image sensor, a CMOS image sensor,or the like, and performs image capturing from the reading window 103under the control of the CPU 161. For example, in the image capturingunit 164, image capturing of a moving image of 30 fps is performed.Frame images that are sequentially image captured by a predeterminedframe rate by the image capturing unit 164 are saved in the RAM 163. Thesound output unit 165 is a sound circuit, a speaker, or the like thatgenerates a warning sound or the like that is set in advance. The soundoutput unit 165 alerts of sounds such as a warning sound under thecontrol of the CPU 161.

Furthermore, a connection interface 175 that is connected to theconnection interface 65 of the POS terminal 11 and that makes datatransceiving with the POS terminal 11 possible is connected to the CPU161. Under the control of the CPU 161, an image that is image capturedby the image capturing unit 164 of the product reading apparatus 101 isoutput via the connection interface 175 and input to the POS terminal 11via the connection interface 65.

Next, functional units of the CPU 161 and the CPU 61 that are realizedby the CPU 161 and the CPU 61 sequentially executing programs will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagramof the functional configurations of the CPU 161 and the CPU 61. Asillustrated in FIG. 4, the CPU 161 includes functions as a capturedimage acquiring unit 1611, a product detection unit 1612, and an imageoutput unit 1613 by sequentially executing programs. Similarly, the CPU61 includes functions as a similar image detection unit 611 and aproduct registration unit 612.

The captured image acquiring unit 1611 causes the image capturing unit164 to start an image capturing action by outputting an image capturingON signal to the image capturing unit 164. The captured image acquiringunit 1611 sequentially acquires frame images that the image capturingunit 164 image captures after starting the image capturing action andwhich are saved in the RAM 163. The acquisition of the frame images bythe captured image acquiring unit 1611 is performed in the order thatthe frame images are saved in the RAM 163.

The product detection unit 1612 detects products that are included inthe frame images, which are acquired by the captured image acquiringunit 1611, using a pattern matching technique or the like. Specifically,outlines or the like are extracted from images in which the acquiredframe images are binarized. Next, outlines extracted from the nearestframe images and an outline extracted from the present frame image arecompared, and portions where there are changes, that is, appearances ofproducts that are directed to the reading window 103 for salesregistration, are detected. Here, as a different method of detecting aproduct, the presence or absence of skin-colored regions are detectedfrom the acquired frame images. Next, when skin-colored regions aredetected, that is, when an appearance of a hand of a store clerk isdetected, extraction of an outline of a product that is supposed to beheld in the hand of the store clerk is attempted by performing detectionof the outlines described above. At this time, when an outline thatshows the shape of a hand and an outline other than such an outline aredetected, the appearance of the product is detected from the fact thatthe hand of the store clerk is holding the product.

The image output unit 1613 outputs the frame images acquired by thecaptured image acquiring unit 1611 to the POS terminal 11 via theconnection interface 175. Although the image output unit 1613 maysuccessively output the frame images acquired by the captured imageacquiring unit 1611 to the POS terminal 11, in the embodiment, frameimages in which the product is detected by the product detection unit1612 are output to the POS terminal 11. In such a manner, by outputtingframe images in which the product is detected by the product detectionunit 1612 to the POS terminal 11, detection of a similar image in whichthe FLU file F1 is referenced by frame images that do not include aproduct is able to be prevented from being performed in the POS terminal11. Since image processing such as detection of similar images takestime to process, by preventing processing of frame images that do notinclude products and for which there is no prospect of detecting asimilar image, it is possible to shorten the processing time.

The similar image detection unit 611 detects a product image that issimilar to at least a portion of a region of the image that is outputfrom the product reading apparatus 101 using a pattern matchingtechnique or the like by referencing the PLU file F1. The patternmatching technique uses a known similar image searching technique thatis performed by comparing two images. From a detection result of thesimilar image detection unit 611, the POS terminal 11 is able to specifythe product that is read by the product reading apparatus 101 out of theproducts that are registered in advance in the PLU file F1.

The product registration unit 612 performs sales registration byrecording, on a sales master file or the like, information relating tothe sales registration that is related to the product image that isdetected by the similar image detection unit 611, that is, the productID, the product category, the product name, the unit price, and the likeof the product that is specified as the product that is read by theproduct reading apparatus 101.

Next, actions of the checkout system 1 will be described in detail. FIG.5 illustrates a flowchart that is one example of the actions of thecheckout system 1 according to the embodiment.

First, the actions of the product reading apparatus 101 side will bedescribed. As illustrated in FIG. 5, when processing is startedaccording to the start of product registration by the POS terminal 11,the captured image acquiring unit 1611 outputs an image capturing ONsignal to the image capturing unit 164 and starts the image capturing bythe image capturing unit 164 (Act 1). Next, the captured image acquiringunit 1611 acquires frame images (captured images) that the imagecapturing unit 164 captures and which are saved in the RAM 163 (Act 2).Next, the product detection unit 1612 performs detection of a productfrom the frame images that the captured image acquiring unit 1611acquires (Act 3). Next, the image output unit 1613 outputs the frameimages in which products are detected by the product detection unit 1612to the POS terminal 11 (Act 4).

FIG. 6 illustrates a conceptual diagram that is an example of a readingregion R of the reading window 103. Specifically, FIG. 6 is a conceptualdiagram that exemplifies the reading region R when the product A isread. As illustrated in FIG. 6, when the product A appears in thereading region R during a movement process of the product A describedabove, the product A is detected from a frame image that is captured ofthe reading region R by Act 3. By the detection of the product A, theframe image that is captured of the reading region R is output to thePOS terminal 11 in Act 4.

Next, the CPU 161 determines whether the procedure is ended by an endingnotification of product registration or the like from the POS terminal11 (Act 5). When the procedure is to be continued (Act 5: NO), the CPU161 continues the process by returning the process to Act 2. When theprocedure is to be ended (Act 5: YES), the captured image acquiring unit1611 outputs an image capturing OFF signal to the image capturing unit164 and ends the image capturing by the image capturing unit 164 (Act6), and the process is ended.

Next, the actions of the POS terminal 11 side will be described. Asillustrated in FIG. 5, if processing is started according to the startof product registration or the like by an operating instruction by thekeyboard 22, the CPU 61 receives the frame image in which the product isdetected which is input from the product reading apparatus 101 (Act 11).Next, the similar image detection unit 611 detects a product image thatis similar to at least a portion of a region of the frame image that isoutput from the product reading apparatus 101 by referencing the PLUfile F1 (Act 12), and the presence or absence of the product image thatis detected as being similar is determined (Act 13).

When there are no product images that are detected as being similar (Act13: NO), the CPU 61 alerts of a reading error to the store clerk such asthat registration relating to the product that is read by the productreading apparatus 101 is not performed (Act 14), and the process isreturned to Act 11. Specifically, the store clerk is alerted of an errorby a screen display on the display device 23 or the display device 106via the connection interfaces 65 and 176, an output of a warning soundby the sound output unit 165 via the connection interfaces 65 and 175,or the like. By performing such an alert, the checkout system 1 is ableto prompt the store clerk to perform an appropriate operation such as tohave the product A reread.

When there is the product image that is detected as being similar (Act13: YES), the CPU 61 determines whether there is a plurality of suchdetected product images (Act 15). When there is only one detectedproduct image (Act 15: NO), the CPU 61 proceeds the process to Act 17from the fact that the product is specified by the reading by theproduct reading apparatus 101. When there is a plurality of detectedproduct images (Act 15: YES), the CPU 61 displays a selection screen onthe display device 106 due to the fact that the detection of the productimages that are similar did not specify one product, receives aselection of one product by the store clerk by receiving an operation ofthe touch panel 105 (Act 16), and the proceeds the process to Act 17.

FIG. 7 illustrates a conceptual diagram that is one example ofregistration data D1 and registration data D2 that are registered on thePLU file F1. When the product A exemplified in FIG. 6 is read, aplurality of product images is detected as product images that aresimilar, as in the registration data D1 and D2 of FIG. 7. In such acase, it is also possible to narrow down the registration data to theregistration data D1 by setting a threshold value when determining thedegree of similarity to be high. However, there is also a case when, byraising the threshold value when determining the degree of similarity,similar images are conversely not detected at all, and there is theincreased effort of having the product A reread. Therefore, in theembodiment, when a plurality of similar product images is detected, theeffort of having the product A reread is eliminated by having the storeclerk select a product from among the plurality of product images.

FIG. 8 illustrates a conceptual diagram of a display example of thedisplay device 106. Specifically, FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram thatexemplifies a selection screen of the display device 106 when aselection of one product from the store clerk is received. Asillustrated in FIG. 8, in Act 16, product information related to theplurality of detected product images is read from the PLU file F1 andimages G1 and G2 of products to be selected are displayed on the displaydevice 106. In the example shown, the image G1 that selects the productof the registration data D1 and the image G2 that selects the product ofthe registration data D2 of FIG. 7 are displayed. The store clerkselects the image G1 or the image G2 by touching the touch panel 105.

In Act 17, the product registration unit 612 registers a detectionresult of a similar product image or the sale of one product that isselected and specified from the detection result. Next, the CPU 61determines whether the procedure is ended by the ending of productregistration by an operating instruction of the keyboard 22, or the like(Act 18). When the procedure is to be continued (Act 18: NO), the CPU 61continues the process by returning the process to Act 11. When theprocedure is to be ended (Act 18: YES), the CPU 61 ends the process.

As described above, in the checkout system 1, the product readingapparatus 101 acquires a captured image and outputs the acquired imageto the POS terminal 11. The POS terminal 11 detects an image of aproduct that is similar to at least a portion of a region of the outputimage by referencing the PLU file F1 in which information relating tosales registration of a product and an image of the product areassociated for each product, and registers the sale of the product basedon information relating to the sales registration that is related to thedetected image of the product. Therefore, the checkout system 1 is ableto perform product registration without the need for the store clerk tomake the effort of checking a location of a code symbol that is attachedto the product A, or the like.

A program that is executed by the POS terminal 11 and the productreading apparatus 101 in the embodiment is provided by being built intoa ROM or the like in advance. The program that is executed by the POSterminal 11 and the product reading apparatus 101 of the embodiment mayhave a configuration of being provided by being recorded on a computerreadable recording medium such as a CD-ROM, a flexible disk (FD), aCD-R, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), or the like in a file of aninstallable format or an executable format.

In addition, the program that is executed by the POS terminal 11 and theproduct reading apparatus 101 of the embodiment may have a configurationof being provided by being stored on a computer that is connected to anetwork such as the Internet and being caused to be downloaded throughthe network. Further, the program that is executed by the POS terminal11 and the product reading apparatus 101 of the embodiment may have aconfiguration of being provided or distributed through a network such asthe Internet.

The program that is executed by the POS terminal 11 and the productreading apparatus 101 of the embodiment has a module configurationincluding each of the parts described above (the similar image detectionunit 611, the product registration unit 612, the captured imageacquiring unit 1611, the product detection unit 1612, and the imageoutput unit 1613), and as actual hardware, each of the above parts isloaded on a main memory apparatus by a CPU (processor) reading theprogram from the above ROM and executing the program, and the similarimage detection unit 611, the product registration unit 612, thecaptured image acquiring unit 1611, the product detection unit 1612, andthe image output unit 1613 are generated on the main memory apparatus.

Further advantages and modifications of the invention may be derivedreadily by those skilled in the art. Accordingly, broader embodiments ofthe present invention are not limited by the details and the typicalembodiments represented and described above. Thus, various modificationscan be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the generalconcept of the present invention as defined in the appended claims andtheir equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A store system comprising: a reading apparatusincluding an image acquiring unit that acquires an image captured by animage capturing unit and an image output unit that outputs the acquiredimage; a similar image detection unit that detects an image of a productthat is similar to at least a portion of the output image by referencingproduct management information in which information relating to salesregistration of a product and an image of the product are associated foreach product; and a sales registration apparatus that includes a salesregistration unit that registers sales of the product based oninformation relating to the sales registration that is associated withthe image of the detected product.
 2. The system according to claim 1,wherein the reading apparatus further includes a product detection unitthat detects a product that is included in the acquired image, and theimage output unit outputs the acquired image when the product isdetected.
 3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the productdetection unit performs detection of the product by detecting that ahand that holds the product is included in the image.
 4. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the sales registration apparatus furtherincludes a selection unit that receives a selection instruction of auser when there is a plurality of images of products that are detectedby the similar image detection unit, and the sales registration unitregisters sales of the product based on information relating to thesales registration of a product selected according to the selectioninstruction.
 5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the salesregistration apparatus further includes an alerting unit that alerts ofan error when an image of a product that is similar to at least aportion of the output image is not detected.
 6. A reading apparatuscomprising: an image acquiring unit that acquires an image captured byan image capturing unit; a product detection unit that detects a productthat is included in the acquired image; and an image output unit thatoutputs the acquired image when the product is detected.
 7. Theapparatus according to claim 6, further comprising: a similar imagedetection unit that detects an image of a product that is similar to atleast a portion of the output image by referencing product managementinformation in which information relating to sales registration of aproduct and an image of the product are associated for each product. 8.The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the product detection unitperforms detection of the product by detecting that a hand that holdsthe product is included in the image.
 9. A sales registration apparatuscomprising: a similar image detection unit that detects an image of aproduct that is similar to at least a portion of a captured image of aproduct for which sales is to be registered by referencing productmanagement information in which information relating to salesregistration of a product and an image of the product are associated foreach product; and a sales registration unit that registers sales of theproduct based on information relating to the sales registration that isassociated with the image of the detected product.
 10. The apparatusaccording to claim 9, further comprising: an image acquiring unit thatacquires an image in which a product for which sales is to be registeredis image captured.